Quest for the Golden Cookie
by ZeroEnforcer
Summary: In hopes of cheering up some imaginary friends, Goo tells the story of a young maiden and her quest to travel across lands beyond to obtain rare ingredients for the sacred recipe of the Golden Cookie.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends belongs to Craig McCracken and Cartoon Network Studios.**

**Author's Note: Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you enjoy the story, please consider leaving a review with constructive criticism. Now enjoy the show.**

* * *

"I'll be gone for no more than a half-hour, I promise."

Frankie tried to pry off the fifth child-like imaginary friend off her body and shoved her keys and wallet into her pocket. She was trying to escape the clutches of the small friends to run to the grocery store and pick up the last remaining ingredients for tonight's dessert – which was proving more difficult than anticipated.

Thankfully, Goo was currently visiting Foster's home and offered to take the little friends away for a spell, just enough time for Frankie to return and start on the berry cookies she was to learn how to make from her grandmother, Madame Foster.

As Frankie rode away in the Foster's bus, the young friends watched the large vehicle drive away from their line of sight and frowned sadly in response.

"Aw," spoke up a friend with a propeller hat, "I wanted to play Princess Buttercup with her…"

Goo looked at the little kids in sympathy, thinking how to lift their spirits. Thinking about the circumstances for a moment, she hatched an idea.

"Don't worry, she'll be back. She's only taking care of her sworn duty handed down through generations, after all."

A little friend with wings and heart-shaped eyes lit up from Goo's words. "Duty? What are you talking about Goo?"

Goo shone her wide grin to the kids. "You don't know? Frankie's sixteenth-great-grandmother, Francesca, underwent a magical, dangerous journey to save her grandmother with," she shifted her eyes for any eavesdroppers, "a _magical_ cookie." Goo whispered.

The little friends "oohed" at the sound of "magical". "Tell us more, Goo!"

Goo led the young friends into a comfy room in the foster home with a large, comfy couch and a tall chair for Goo. She dragged the chair closer to the couch and motioned for the friends to sit closer to her.

"Gather around, little ones. For today, I will tell you the story of Frankie's ancestor, Francesca… and her journey to create the Golden Cookie."

* * *

Centuries ago, there lived a young red-headed farmer girl named Francesca. She lived a simple life, working on her family's farm picking fruits and harvesting spices. She always felt a little envious at the rich lifestyle that some people in her town were able to have, but she couldn't complain with the simple yet delicious pastries that her grandmother made in the family bakery she ran. Her pies, cakes and other desserts were beloved by everyone, even attracting the attention of the royal family. Her grandmother was offered the chance to be the royal baker, but she instantly turned down the opportunity. She exclaimed as she walked out the royal court, "I refuse to let you uppity types be the only ones to eat my life's work. Either I make everyone happy or no one at all!"

The passion of Francesca's grandmother poured into every crumb she baked. All was well and normal in the kingdom…until the upcoming winter arrived.

Snowfall blanketed the land, freezing all the crops and raising the need for fire and warmth. Francesca's grandmother had caught illness, and no amount of homemade soup or medicine was working.

The town doctor came to check on her condition. Just like the other cases of sickness in the town, she was suffering from "filled lung", where too much fluid was stuck in her lungs and made it hard to breathe. The doctor managed to spare only half of the required medication she needed to treat the illness. He promised to give the rest when there would be more available and promptly left.

A week and a half had gone by, and Francesca's grandmother was still slowly recovering. The townspeople were back to normal and were asking for her desserts once again. The doctor had never returned – there were a few rumors about the doctor succumbing to the illness himself – and the grandmother had to start sharing her recipes with her sons and daughters to keep up the spirits of the townspeople and her family itself. But everyone worried when the medicine finally ran out; what was left to possibly cure her, no one knew.

One night, Francesca was watching over her grandmother, who was sound asleep in bed. She was reading behind cookbooks passed down the family line, from people who spent years experimenting to create the best foods humanly possible. Francesca looked through the pages of "Sweet Stews and Meats" when a wrinkly old paper fell out of the book's sleeve. She picked up the paper and found it was a map of the entire land she lived on. Her town was located at the very bottom of the land, and above her town were other kingdoms that overshadowed her birthplace. At the very top of the land, there laid only one small symbol: a white tree.

As she continued to study the map, she didn't notice her grandmother wake up from her slumber and look at Francesca for a few seconds. "What's that you're reading, sweetie?" she asked in a low, raspy voice.

Francesca jumped up in her seat and shrieked. She landed on her butt as the books around her followed suit. "Grandma! Don't scare me like that! You almost gave me a heart attack."

A low chuckle escaped the elderly woman's lips. "You're stronger than that dear. Now do show me what you found."

Francesca dusted herself off and picked up the map she found. She handed it to her grandmother, whose expression went from peaceful to shocked. "Dear…where did you find this?"

"From one of your cookbooks," she answered, confused. "You never knew about this?"

"My dear, this here is a treasure among everything else! Even the most golden and bejeweled crown of the king would be worth nothing compared to this. This, my dear, is a map to the Golden Cookie!"

Francesca looked on. "…What?"

"I'm serious! Legend tells of a secret recipe that would create the greatest sweet of all time: a cookie that could reverse any sickness and give its eater a long life. I heard it from my grandmother, who heard it from _her_ grandmother and so on."

Poor Francesca looked on in bewilderment. "Such a cookie exists? How come no one has made it before?"

"The ingredients are really hard to come by, dear. One must obtain the richest butter, the freshest eggs, the creamiest milk, and the tartest berries that this land offers. You must then present those ingredients to the Sugar Tree all the way at the end of this land, where the Queen of Spice will bless you with her finest sugar if your aim is true."

"…Right. Well then, I might as well get ready to leave in the morning."

"What do you mean? You're not suggesting-"

Francesca nodded. "Yup, I'm going to see if I can make this. That doctor never came back with the right medicine, and none of our stuff works either. If this can cure you, I'll be more than happy to take this trip."

"But dear," her grandmother trembled. "There's a reason why this cookie is only a legend. To get the ingredients, you'll have to travel across all the other kingdoms in the land. No one from our side has crossed the boundary of our kingdom before in decades. There's no telling how the land has changed!"

"Grandma, if I don't go out and try to get this cookie, you may end up joining every ancestor we have before the harvest festival this spring. I'll never live it down if I let that happen to you. I'm going at sunrise, and that's final."

Sighing heavily, her grandmother yielded. "Very well. Just be careful dear. _I_ won't live it down if you're not there to see me off whenever I finally depart."

"Fair enough." Francesca kissed her on the forehead and tucked her in for the night. Morning came, and she was already gone before the town clock struck seven.


End file.
